You know there's no such thing as a free meal
And there ain't no future in British steel
No, the only thing that makes us smile
Is a joke and a laugh and a night on the tiles
No one ever gives you anything for free
Unless you start sleeping with the BBC

Nigel got a job in the city
Works in a department store
Slogging his guts out all through the week
Looking forward to the weekend score

But tonight he's gonna be somebody
Dancing his heart out with a local girl
She doesn't care whether he's got no money
There's more to life than they teach you at school
And tonight he's gonna reach somebody
Falling in love with a local girl
She doesn't care whether he's got no money
She knows he's got a heart of solid gold
Solid gold
Solid gold

You know there's no such thing
As a ticket to ride
Or satisfaction without sacrifice
The only thing that's really true about life
Is that the older you get
The more you compromise
No one's gonna hand it to you on a plate
You've gotta give give give
Before you take take take

Nigel got a job in the city
Works in a department store
Thought that his future
Was as good as sorted
But he's happy in his little world
You know there's no such thing as a free meal
And there ain't no future in British steel
No, the only thing that makes us smile
Is a joke and a laugh and a night on the tiles
No one ever gives you anything for free
Unless you start sleeping with the BBC

Nigel got a job in the city
Works in a department store
Slogging his guts out all through the week
Looking forward to the weekend score

But tonight he's gonna be somebody
Dancing his heart out with a local girl
She doesn't care whether he's got no money
There's more to life
Than they teach you at school

3 Comments

Pretty obvious what it's about. You work all week, your a nobody just doing your job and you go out at the weekend and find that special someone that you think you could be with and finally your someone.

Also another thing it says is that you can't expect everything to be given to you straight away - if you want something, you have to give something in return

General CommentI agree, brilliant song. And I also agree with the meaning. It's about feeling like you're a no one because you didn't get where you thought you would in life, but then you meet someone that loves you despite that and realize that it doesn't matter what job you have or how much money you have. So basically there is so much more to life rather than your job and money or "things they teach you at school".

General CommentA lot of the lyrics to this song are based on the song 'Making Plans for Nigel' by XTC (songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858522266/). That song was a somewhat tongue-in-cheek look at parents who try to dominate their children's futures, planning Nigel's future without his input or opinion, saying 'Nigel just needs this helping hand'.

The Enemy's song seems like a modern take on the same Nigel. In the 80's, Nigel "has his future in British steel"; now he's found out "there ain't no future in British steel", and instead he got a job in a department store. Nigel "thought his future was as good as sorted" (paraphrasing XTC's "Nigel's whole future is as good as sealed") but none of it came true (quite plausible that he didn't want it to come through).

Really, the song is about the shift in attitudes as people grow up. When Nigel was young and XTC wrote about him, he didn't really know what he wanted and he was dominated by his parents. Any grand ambitions he may have held didn't come through for him. Now he's older, all he's really looking for is 'a local girl' who won't mind that he's lost his ambitions and has no money.